Canadians would rather watch US shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Survivor despite efforts by the government to spur audience numbers for homegrown TV series.
Ratings data from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement released Tuesday indicate the top 10 shows in prime time last week--and 19 of the top 20--were US series.
CSI, Survivor, and Desperate Housewives took the top three slots, followed by CSI: Miami at number four and Lost at number five. Rounding out the top 10 were ER, Law and Order: SVU, Grey's Anatomy, Cold Case, and House.
Like last year, the sitcom Corner Gas, which airs on prime-time ratings leader CTV, was the lone Canadian show to crack the top 20.
The strong showing by US series is not new. Canadians have long preferred popular US dramas, comedies, and reality series in primetime.
But the poor showing for Canadian-made TV shows comes despite the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the country's broadcast regulator, giving domestic broadcasters incentives to include more advertising minutes per prime-time hour if they broadcast more Canadian dramas.
"From our perspective, we believe that the ad incentive program is inadequate, and the only way in which Canadian broadcasters will actually produce Canadian material to any significant extent is if they're obligated to do so through regulation," said Steve Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, Canada's actors union.
Research released Tuesday by Digital Home Canada, a media Web site, indicated private Canadian broadcasters continue to air mostly US series in prime time, putting homegrown series at the margins of their schedules.
Digital Home Canada said that, for the week ending September 25, US programing made up more than 95 percent of the prime-time lineup on CTV, and more than 80 percent of the lineup on the rival CanWest Media Works' twin networks.
Things could get better for Canadian shows. Private broadcasters tend to roll out their high-profile US series, new and returning, when the fall season kicks off, and then slot in new Canadian shows when failing US shows begin falling off network schedules in October and November.
Comments (13)
This is simply because there are only very few canadian shows that are really outstanding.<br />
Regenesis for instance.
0_0 i'm american.<br />
i didn't realize how many US shows aired in Canada. is that good or bad?<br />
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^_^;; i'm sorry i never heard of "corner gas"
Everybody watches american shows!!! They ROCK!!!
I'm Canadian and I watch Corner Gas when I've got nothing else to do but, I think it's over hyped. I'm worried Americans will see it and say "Yea, it's pretty good, but this really your best show?" I watch Pupets Who Kill but it's kind of uneven, and Butch Patterson: Private *** has been off the air for years. I think The Dead Zone is Canadian and I watch that, but My favorite Canadian show is Charlie Jade. Unfortunately hardly anyone knows about it. Also it's filmed in South Africa. I wouldn't like a show just because it's Canadian, but if I already liked a show I'd me more enthusiastic if it was Canadian. There just aren't many that are that good because the industry is smaller.
Can't think of a Canadian show that I watch...
umm hello,their not from another planet!
Thats nothing new.<br />
I'm Canadian and there are only about 3 Canadian shows that I watch. The rest are all American.
I'd reply but there's a Littlest Hobo rerun coming on and I haven't finished shoveling the snow off the roof yet like my fellow Canadians....<br />
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Sheesh....<br />
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This just in... British TV watchers like to watch football matches....
veronica mars :D
I'd like to watch an episode "Corner Gas" someday. From what I've seen, it looks interesting.
USA USA!<br />
Lost rocks! so does veronica mars!
I watch Canadian shows that air here in America a lot, so it evens out.
It's always been this way, and there's nothing the Canadian government can do to stop it.